You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel. Today we're talking about health insurance, specifically high deductible health

plans. High deductible health plans are common in the U.S. A lot of people choose them because

they have much cheaper premiums. And premiums are what you pay every month just to have

the insurance, even if you don't use it. If you get your insurance through work, these will come out of

your paycheck. The thing is, high deductible plans also have high deductibles. Your deductible is

the amount that you have to pay for covered services before your insurance start sharing costs.

This is Jackie Fortier.

She's been reporting on high deductible health plans for an NPR and KFF Health News series called

Healthcare Helpline.

Now, sharing costs means that after you've paid a certain amount out of pocket, your deductible,

your insurance will pay a portion of each medical

bill and you'll pay the rest. Could be an 80-20 split, a 70-30 split. It depends on your plan.

A lot of folks sign up for high deductible plans because of the cheap premiums, but then they

get surprised later. I talked to Madison Burgess. She's an elementary school teacher in San Diego,

and she was shopping around for a good deal for her husband. And when I initially got the plan,

I just looked for the cheapest thing. And I didn't know what deductible was. I just went with

what was cheap. And now I have regret.

So her husband has to meet an almost $6,000 deductible before insurance will pay.

If you signed up for a high deductible health plan and now you're wondering, how do I use this thing?

We are here to help.

On this episode of Life Kit, a playbook for using your high deductible health insurance plan.

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